Lord’s Day 23
Q61. Why do you say that through faith alone you are right with God?
It is not because of any value my faith has that God is pleased with me. Only Christ's satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness make me right with God. And I can receive this righteousness and make it mine in no other way than through faith alone.
Scripture Proofs — King James Version
1 Corinthians 1:30–31
“But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.”
Romans 10:10
“For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
1 John 5:10–12
“He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.”
Modernized Commentary — Zacharias Ursinus (1616)
Question 61: Why do you say that you are righteous by faith alone?
Answer. Not because I am acceptable to God on account of any worthiness in my faith, but because only the satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ constitutes my righteousness before God, and I cannot receive and apply that righteousness to myself by any other means than faith alone.
We are said to be justified by faith alone for two reasons. First, because we are justified solely by the object of faith, which is the merits of Christ, without which we have no righteousness at all. We are justified on account of Christ. Nothing other than Christ's merit can serve as our righteousness before God, whether in whole or in part. We are justified only by believing and receiving the righteousness of another person, not by our own works or merit. All works are excluded from our justification, including even faith itself, insofar as faith is considered a virtue or an act we perform.